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Launched just four days ago, Charice’s new album topped iTunes-Japan’s Pop Chart amid radio promo gigs and the comeback of the David Foster and Friends Concert Tour.

As of 12 MN of October 9, Charice’s new album entitled “Infinity” is on the top spot in iTunes-Japan’s Pop Albums Chart as per Apple’s website. Interestingly, wrapping up the top 10 list is Charice’s Japanese self-titled debut album, which has been in the market for over a year as of press time.

Charice has been busy promoting her album in the past few days. Just earlier today, she appeared in Tokyo FM’s “Cosmo Pops Best10”, where she talked her new album and answered questions from fans.

“The message of the title [Infinity]… is never-ending love, never-ending hope, especially (in light of) what happened last March [the Japanese Earthquake/Tsunami]. They’ve been supporting me (for so long) and now, this album is like my support for them,” she said.

Several of the album’s tracks were played, including “Far as the Sky” (also the theme song for the Japanese drama series “Bull Doctor”), and “New World” (the theme song for the English version of the upcoming console role-playing game “Final Fantasy XII-2”).

On a lighter note, Charice was also asked about her roots.

She replied, ““He [Dave Duenas/FalseVoice] posted this video YouTube ‘cause I joined this contest in the Philippines. It was like American Idol there, but I lost. (laughs).”

“You lost?”

“Yeah but I made it to the finals! (laughs)”

Asked about what singing means to her, Charice said, “Singing is my passion… Every time I wake up in the morning, I always think that I can’t live without singing. Even if I’m not performing, even if I’m just in the house, in the bathroom, I always sing!”

David Foster and Friends are back!

In the same interview, Charice also mentioned the upcoming first installment of the Hitman Returns: David Foster and Friends Asian Tour later this month.

Charice was asked about how much David Foster influenced her since he took her under his wings.

She replied, “He changed me as a singer/artist. I’ve learned a lot from him – not just being [how to be] a great artist but also as a person. He’s a really nice guy. I am very blessed to having him as a (part of my) family. He taught me a lot, aside from my English (laughs).”

Charice’s New Album “Infinity” is now up on sale in iTunes and Amazon.

Hitman Returns: David Foster & Friends Asian Tour will officially kick off on October 19 and 20 in Japan’s Tokyo International Forum Hall A. After the Japan concert, the group will also perform in Malaysia (October 22), the Philippines (October 25), Singapore (October 27 and November 2), Jakarta (October 28 and 29), Thailand (October 31).

For the October Hitman Returns: David Foster and Friends Asian Tour concert tickets, please visit the Official Site by clicking here.

Charice’s second album, “Infinity”, is doing great in Japan. Just less than a day after its release, Infinity is now number one in the iTunes Pop Album chart and number four on the overall album chart. The album launch concert might have really helped, right? In Japan’s main music chart, Oricon, Infinity is a new entry at no. 10. Hopefully, sales will continue to rise and earn Charice another gold award, just like with her debut album.

Oricon Chart

Album sales could rise more in the following days as Charice continues her promotional activities in Japan. Tomorrow, October 7, she will be doing an interview in the iconic Tokyo Tower (see this post for more details).

On the 8th, Charice is a guest on the radio show Cosmo Pops Best 10. Tune in at 3:00 p.m. to catch her live. This show is also broadcasted live from the Tokyo FM Midtown Studio in Roppongi, so it’s highly possible that you could catch a glimpse of Charice there.

On the 15th and the 22nd, “Music Fair” on Fuji TV will air two different episodes where Charice is a guest at 6:00 p.m. She has already filmed these episodes last October 4, so this guesting is not live. But being featured on this show for two consecutive weekly episodes is such a big deal.

On Oct. 19 and 20, Charice will be performing live with David Foster and Friends at the Tokyo International Forum Hall A. Even though she might just sing one song from her album during this concert, DFF is still a great venue for Charice to promote herself.

We have no exact date yet for the release of the Japan version of the “One Day” music video, but most likely it will be this October. The schedule released by Warner Music Japan and Acuvue for the dance contest winners reveals that the shoot for the MV will be sometime on October 6-8, 2011. So it’s possible for the video to be released within a week or two.

“One Day” dance contest winners who will appear in the new music video

Charice’s tie-in with Acuvue is really a great way to give more exposure to her new album, as it allows her to do events like the album launch concert in Shinjuku, an amateur dance contest/audition, and the new “One Day” music video. Below are photos of the recently concluded “One Day” Dance Contest:

Check back here again for more details on the new “One Day” MV Japan version. By Sofia Carrera, Charicemania.com

Many Chasters have already pre-ordered their “Infinity” copies since August, and after more than a month of waiting, we can now all listen to Charice’s amazing new songs.

“Infinity” is currently number two in Amazon Japan’s RnB top seller chart, and it has been in the Amazon Japan overall Top 100 for 4 days now. In iTunes Japan, Infinity is #1 in the Pop category. But this doesn’t even reflect the real performance of Charice’s new album in Japan, as many other sites and record stores are selling it, so we’ll just have to wait and see a little bit longer if “Infinity” will hit gold or platinum sales.

There’s a great chance that “Infinity” will top the performance of Charice’s hit debut album, as the promotion for the sophomore album is bigger and better.

There are various interviews with a lot of Japanese shows and networks; there’s a tie-in with Acuvue that includes a dance contest and concert; the TV drama Bull Doctor reaches a large audience; and there’s also the upcoming David Foster and Friends Asia Tour with it’s first two stops in Tokyo.

Charice’s endorsement deal with Acuvue paved the way for a free album release concert in Tokyo today, October 5, held at the famous Shinjuku Station ALTA exit. Fans actually lined up and waited hours before the start of the concert. I was actually there and the energy of Japan Chasters was so amazing, it wasn’t dampened one bit by the rain and cold.

The organizers eventually handed out free raincoats so that umbrellas wouldn’t block the livestream camera, plus, they also gave out some packets that included flyers about DFF, Acuvue, Warner Japan and a free pen. Overall, the album launch concert was a success, even with the bad weather. You can watch Charice’s whole performance in the video below:

The album release concert was streamed live on the internet so that every single Chaster will have the chance to watch it. Charice sang 5 songs: first was “Louder”, then “One Day”, “New World”, “Far As the Sky”, and “Before It Explodes”. The winners of the Acuvue “One Day” dance audition/contest backed-up Charice during her high energy performance of “One Day”.

In the following days, we could expect more promotion from Charice for “Infinity”, such as the “One Day” Japanese version music video. So does Japan’s “Infinity” make you want to have Charice’s U.S./Global “Infinity” earlier than 2012? Or did it make the wait much more bearable now?

After the long wait for Charice’s sophomore album “Infinity”, it will finally be launched on October 5, 2011 and live in Japan. The show will also be live via ustream channel so it means all fans from around the world can also watch all the excitement and fun. Some of the songs have already been released as part of this album: One day, Louder, Before It Explodes, Lost The Best Thing, Far As The Sky and New World, which is also the theme song for the game Final Fantasy XIII-2. The livestream will be on Wednesday, October 5th at 5 PM (Japan Time).

In addition to the album launch, a free live concert “Charice One day Acuvue Moist” will be held somewhere in Tokyo. This will mark the “One Day” premier in Japan with the new dancers who auditioned few weeks ago. The chosen dancers will also be part of the new One Day Music Video (Japanese version).

It’s been two weeks since the announcement that Charice’s second album in Japan will be released on October 5, 2011. And now, we have a title for this special Japan-only album: “Infinity”.

A fitting title, right? There’s just too much potential for Charice as she’s just starting on her path to world super stardom – her career has no specific high point in sight yet and the possibilities are infinite.

The album artwork is also great: simple yet striking. Charice is wearing a black and white printed scarf, a studded black fedora, a knitted off-shoulder top, and black leggings (the Japanese stylists really did an amazing job). A large infinity symbol in transparent white is also a great alternative to the normal text titles in most albums.

The tracks included in her second album are:

Far As The Sky

Louder

New World

Before It Explodes

Lost The Best Thing

One Day

Never Always

Bounce Back

Lighthouse

Lesson For Life

Living It Up

The order of the songs are not yet final, but at least we know what the songs are. Most likely, this track list will be very different from her U.S. edition sophomore album.

“Infinity” is available for pre-order at Amazon Japan for ￥ 1,980. The album will be available on October 5, 2011. Charice’s second album is currently in number 633 in Amazon’s Bestseller list, while it’s number 16 in the RnB category.

Charice and David Foster are featured in this popular Japanese program where they introduce a “great selection of songs just for you!” We then follow Charice and David as they take us to the Robert Mondavi Winery for their fundraiser show in the Napa Valley.

Here are the performance videos for 3 songs: To Love You More, Bodyguard Medley, and I Will Survive. PLUS the complete 30-minute show (translation needed! sorry, but you’ll get the idea…)

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We previously reported that Charice will be featured on NHK’s SONGS show as a part of her promotion for “As Far as the Sky”. But based on some tweets, it appears that this “SONGS” episode will be more than that.

After the concert, it was confirmed that the TV crew was sent by NHK Japan to film a segment for their show, “SONGS”. Below is the tweet that said this:

Based on the official website of “SONGS”, we now know that the Aug. 31 episode will be about Charice and her music, plus David Foster’s involvement. The episode title is “Charice with David Foster”, so that means it will be more centered on Charice than David Foster. Catch Charice on “SONGS” at 10:55 p.m., Aug. 31, 2011 on NHK. Below are the promo image for the episode and the video preview:

Video preview:

This is the second appearance of Charice on “SONGS” this year. Her first one was in early 2011, where she sang four songs live. Below is a video of her “Pyramid” performance. You can watch her three other performances in this YouTube playlist.

As previously announced, Charice will be performing on Formula 1 Singapore Grand Prix 2011 for two days, September 23, Friday at Zone 4 (Padang stage) and September 24, Saturday at Zone 1 (Village stage). Other artists like Shakira, Linkin Park, Shaggy and Rick Astley are also set to perform on the 3-day racing event.

Charice’s shoutout to fans:

Full promotions about the event have also been started. Here’s a video where Charice is featured as one of the main entertainers:

Big posters are also on this City Hall train station in Singapore.

If you want to see Charice up close on stage or Fan zone area, you have to get a wristband which will be given on each day for the first 2000 people. Charice’s performance schedule is not yet known but from last year’s lineup, it can start at around 5 PM. So check back on this page or Singapore GP for updates.

To catch Charice on September 23, Friday, you can buy the cheapest SGD38 Friday Single Day Walkabout ticket. All tickets can access to Zone 4 entertainment stage for Friday. But for September 24, Saturday, you will need a ticket that can acess Zone 1 stage, cheapest one is a Premier Walkabout for SGD448 which is for all zones in 3 days. Tickets are selling fast with limited availability, so get your ticket now from Singapore GP.

In just a month, Charice will be invading Jakarta, Indonesia together with David Foster and Friends for a music-filled evening that few will ever forget. As proof of Charice’s wide fanbase all over the world, an Indonesian magazine used her as the cover for their September 2011 issue.

“Go Girl!” is a teen magazine in Indonesia that was put up in 2005. Its main readers are females in the age bracket of 15-23 years old. The magazine is known for using international stars in its cover, and it uses a mix of English and Indonesian as its articles’ language.

Go Girl’s September 2011 issue is titled, “Eastern Issue” – it’s all about Asia, from entertainment, heartthrobs, Korean artists and shows, to travel, food, and Chinatown. With Charice as the most famous Asian international star right now, she really deserves to be in the cover of a magazine edition that’s focused on Asian show business.

If you’re in Indonesia, the magazine is already available in newsstands for just 25,000 RP. As of now, we can’t find the specific article about Charice, so if anyone has a copy of this, please scan and share it online.

Below are some teasers for the other articles inside this issue:

Checkout the official website of “Go Girl!” here and their Facebook page here.

Chasters in the Middle East are really eager to have Charice over for a live performance. They have gotten their hopes up last month when “concert organizers” in Dubai put out a press release for an October 7 concert there.

But Charice herself denied on Twitter that she’ll be flying to Dubai in between her David Foster and Friends concerts. Because of this, Chasters became wary of “concerts” announced by organizers from the Middle East.

Just yesterday, there was a lot of buzz regarding the concert Charice will be doing in Doha, but of course, her fans didn’t believe this right away because of the previous Dubai debacle. Confirmation coming from Charice herself or her camp would be the only thing that could assure fans of this concert’s legitimacy.

Fans’ prayers were answered when a list of upcoming Charice events were put up on the artist’s official page on Facebook just an hour ago – included in that list is the September 29 concert in Doha, Qatar. The Doha Concert has also been added to Charice’s official website in the “Tour Dates” page. This date is very believable since it’s almost a month before the start of her almost non-stop performances for the David Foster and Friends Asia Tour.

This is the first ever concert that Charice has done in Qatar. The two-hour performance will be held at the Khalifa Stadium Track in Doha’s Aspire Zone.

The show will start at 8:00 p.m. but the gates will open at 5:00 p.m. There will also be some short opening acts before Charice hits the stage.

Tickets are priced at 350 QR for spots near the stage and at 150 QR for regular ones. You can buy tickets at Regency Travel and Tours outlets. For more information, you can contact info@goldenrelations.com or call 44279060.

The concert organizer is Golden Relations, which has experience in bringing over international acts like the WWE Wrestlemania Revenge Tour. Hopefully, they’ll do a great job in hosting a superstar like Charice.

Non-Chasters might think that Charice is only famous in the United States and in her native country, the Philippines. They might be surprised to find out that her debut album has gone platinum in Japan – and the people there still can’t get enough of her amazing talent and powerful voice.

In fact, that platinum award is just the beginning of Charice’s invasion of Japan’s music scene. She’s just starting to make her way up to the top of the charts and working on becoming a household name there. Yes, not everyone in Japan might have heard of Charice yet, but for those whose ears have listened to her sing, they’re all impressed.

In the studio recording "Far as the Sky"

One TV producer, Kayuza Toda, became so captivated by her voice, that he sought her out and offered her a stint to record the theme song of a Japanese TV drama (Bull Doctor) that he’s producing. Good thing Charice accepted, as we now can enjoy the great song, “Far as the Sky” with Charice’s vocal power and heartfelt emotion.

The theme song shot up the charts into 4th place, and Warner Japan might have found this a great sign – so they brought in Charice to promote the song, and then announce the early release of her sophomore album in Japan. Here’s her jam-packed schedule:

August 9, 2011

Charice performed “Far as the Sky” live for the first time ever. Watch her performance and appearance in the Japanese show, “Sukkiri”, here. She also sang acapella 1 chorus of the song to cast of the Drama “Bull Doctor” during her visit at their shooting location.

Here are some of the cast/actors’ comments about Charice from m.found.jp news: (English Translation by Japhzinn)

Makiko Esumi: I was just about to break into tears (Telling Satomi Ishihara). Without any instruments, just how amazing it is even in acappella..I was impressed.

Satomi Ishihara: In a moment, the mood/atmosphere has changed…being awed, it was amazing.

Kohinata Fumiyo: Had her autograph, I am very much impressed/touched. YouTube is perfectly stored in my PC as a favorite. Being able to see Her live, such a great happiness.

Shida Mirai: Greatly impressed. There is great power, gave me great energy. I was really moved. Thank you very much.

Takuro Ohno: She really sings great. I think I want to be like that.

Sakura: Really unthinkable from such a petite body… As if we’ve been encouraged by a really powerful voice and a very beautiful, beautiful voice.

August 13, 2011

Charice performed live “Louder” and “Far as the Sky” in Fuji TV’s summer concert series, “United States of Odaiba”, which was broadcasted on the show, “Mezamashi Live”. Checkout the two videos below:

Charice featured on “Mezamashi Live”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQKoYpeUnq8

“Far as the Sky” live performance:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m3SpqleSJvw

“Louder” live performance:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6rFXuISQLw

August 31, 2011

Charice will be featured on the NHK TV show, “SONGS”. The focus will be her music and her performances with David Foster. Japan Chasters, don’t forget to tune in at 10:55-11:24 p.m. For those living elsewhere, check this article again for fan-uploaded videos of that show.

Other new Charice-Japan stuff:

Charice featured in Warner Music Japan’s website for “100 Years of Music”

This feature is in Japanese, so you just have to make do with Google Translate, since we don’t have the full English translation. Read the machine-translation here.

(English Translation by Japhzinn)

Charice’s Top 10 Favorite Album (Artist)

1. Lady Gaga – Gaga (Born This Way) - She’s a great songwriter and I think she really is a real singer.

2. Lady Antebellum – (Need You Now) - I don’t listen to country music that often but the moment I listened to their music I was attracted to it at once. Love it.

5. Eminem – (All Albums) - Even after a 100 years, we’re gonna need a great rapper. And I think Eminem is just the one.

6. Beyonce – (All Albums) – I love the way she sings. Very powerful.Even her performances are really great/amazing.

7. Bruno Mars – (Doo wops and hooligans) - Great singer, super cool singer-songwriter.And he also has the Filipino blood.

8. Justin Timberlake – Future Sex Love Sounds - If you say now,Wouldn’t you think of him as the male version of Lady Gaga?!A great songwirter, and I think an amazing performer.

9. Ne-Yo – (All Albums) - I love all his songs. Ne-Yo is really the best/greatest.

10. Westlife – (Westlife) - I have always been their fan. Please listen to “Flying Without Wings” You will definitely wanna buy their album.

Behind the Scenes Photos from Charice’s Aug 2011 Japan Trip

There are lots of cute photos of Charice’s things and candid photos of her in the official Japan blog/website of hers maintained by Warner Music Japan. All the blog entries are in Japanese, but you can still use Google Translate, to get a little bit of meaning. Checkout the newest entry here.

This piece of news might surprise a lot of people since most artists based in America release their albums first there, and then when it’s successful, release it in other countries.

But remember that Charice is Asian, so that might have been a big factor in the way that she has become so famous in Japan – so famous that Warner Japan is building on this popularity and releasing her second album just a year after her debut.

Charice in "Sukkiri!"

A deciding factor in her early Japan release might be the beautiful single, “Far as the Sky”, which is the theme song of the hit Japanese TV drama, “Bull Doctor”. Coupled with the popularity of the drama and Charice, her second album might just beat her debut’s platinum sales record.

The release date of Charice’s sophomore album was announced during her August 9 appearance on NTV’s morning show, “Freshen Up!” or “Sukkiri”. The early Japan release of her album is scheduled on October 5, 2011, though the album is still untitled to this date. Thee 11-track album is now available for pre-order at a price of¥1980 (about $26). You can reserve and pay for your copy here.

The Platinum Debut Album of Charice (Japan Edition)

The tracks included in her second album are:

Far As The Sky
Louder
New World
Before It Explodes
Lost The Best Thing
One Day
Never Always
Bounce Back
Lighthouse
Lesson For Life
Living It Up

Based on this article from HMV.com, this album is a special Japan-only album. If that’s true, then this is not actually the same as Charice’s sophomore album that will be released in early 2012. For sure, the singles that she released like “Louder”, “Lost the Best Thing”, and “Before It Explodes” will still be included in her 2nd US album, but could be accompanied by other songs.

It’s still not clear whether Charice’s sophomore album is already this early Japan edition, but it could be similar, maybe without the “Far as the Sky” song. It’s highly possible that Charice would really release her album first in Asia, as she said in this interview with ology.com:

- Interview by Sharon Tharp

So what are you working on right now?

Actually it’s my day off right now, but this week I am going to fly to Japan to promote my album. And I am going to be there for a few days, finish my album that is coming out this fall, and then I am going to do an Asian tour.

Great. Do we have a date yet?

We don’t have a date yet, but it is definitely going to be the fall. It is going to come out in Asia first then here.

There’s not much info yet for her U.S. album. Charice has revealed two dates for her album release: Fall 2011 and Early 2012. To avoid major disappointment, just expect the her second album to drop in the first quarter of 2012 – and this is the most believable date since Charice said this in her latest interview at the Teen Choice Awards 2011.

The Japanese TV Drama Series “Bull Doctor” has been airing for almost a month now, and they are planning a new set of promotions that will push the ratings way up high.

Based on the information posted by Japan’s Warner Music Group on their official website, Charice will have two “Bull Doctor” related events in Japan this August 2011, while a third event will be all about her and David Foster. Continue Reading

LATEST UPDATE 8/6 – Charice has confirmed that she is not scheduled at this event. In response to a Twitter fan inquiry, Charice tweeted back: “No.. But I would love to come back!”

8/2 update – Charice is NOT confirmed to appear in concert at the Dubai Filipino Festival. Her business manager replied simply by e-mail, “it’s not true,” in response to an inquiry from Charicemania to confirm the solo concert. We do not have details if the festival itself is moving forward as planned from 2pm to 2am, but it appears that Charice as of this writing will not be a part of the evening entertainment plans for a solo concert as first reported by gulfnews.com Continue Reading

Last year’s Formula 1 Grand Prix in Singapore was a big hit with both locals and tourists. Tickets were all sold out for the races and the main concert event headlined by Mariah Carey. This year, Singapore aims for another successful run of their Formula 1 Grand Prix – and it looks like they’re heading in the right direction as 80% of the targeted ticket sales are already achieved. Continue Reading

The David Foster and Friends Summer Concert in Napa Valley just happened last July 16. You may or may not have attended that certain event, but for sure, you want to hear more of Charice’s live-singing, right?

We previously reported that Charice will be singing in two DFF concerts in Las Vegas this 2011 – one on October 1 for the third Hitman Concert in Mandalay Bay, and the second one on November 25 for the Thanksgiving Concert of David Foster and Friends, also in Mandalay Bay. Continue Reading

In an interview with HollywoodLife.com last June 14, Charice talked about the reasons why the “Louder” music video is not yet being made. Aside from prioritizing the “One Day” music video, she also mentioned something about going to Singapore. Charice didn’t elaborate about her Singapore trip, and there are no recent tweets about it on her Twitter account. But further searching on the web will lead you to various tidbits of info on this mysterious event – it turns out that Charice will be doing a show in Singapore. Continue Reading